CD Projekt spent two years getting one boss fight right. The Chimera Tank battle in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, where V and President Myers face off against a giant spider-tank in a Barghest facility, took that long to design. That is a lot of time for one fight.
The company’s official AnsweRED podcast, via Eurogamer, revealed the scale of the effort. Game director Gabe Amatangelo and creative director Igor Sarzyński spoke alongside Phantom Liberty art director Paweł Mielniczuk, who co-hosted the episode.
The Chimera Tank Nexus
Amatangelo described the Chimera as a “nexus point of different disciplines.” The fight brings together gameplay, narrative, art and worldbuilding, and balancing all four was the challenge.
“It was gameplay, narrative, art, worldbuilding,” Amatangelo said. “It was about striking a balance and I think the three of us got into it and went: ‘Okay, beat-by-beat, let’s do this.'”
Mielniczuk confirmed the timeline directly. “I think when we were iterating, it was two years to make this boss fight work,” he said. Later, he noted the tank went through “four” different iterations, involving “changing equipment [and] the weapons.”
Four Iterations, One Fight
The fight’s design changed repeatedly as CD Projekt moved between disciplines. Sometimes the focus leaned too far toward gameplay, sometimes toward narrative, sometimes toward art direction. Finding the right balance took constant revision.
Sarzyński added that the Chimera’s construction represents “one of the most expensive art assets I think ever.”
What We Thought About It
The writer who covered the reveal had a personal stake in the discussion. They played the sequence around Phantom Liberty’s launch and thought it could have used slightly more balancing. Slowly blasting the tank to bits was one of the more gruelling parts of the game.
They also compared the difficulty to the unexpectedly punishing battle with The Toad Prince in The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone.
The fight remains memorable regardless of the difficulty. One of the best things the writer has played this decade.
Lessons For The Sequel
CD Projekt has learned lessons from making Cyberpunk. How those lessons will shape the sequel is unclear. The company still has several years, a Witcher 3 expansion, and The Witcher 4 ahead before the next entry arrives.
| Stage | Duration |
|---|---|
| Boss fight first iteration begins | Unknown |
| First full iteration completed | Unknown |
| Final iteration completed | Unknown |
| Boss fight released in Phantom Liberty | Now |
The Chimera Tank is a reminder that behind every polished moment in a game, there are hours of trial and error. Two years of iteration is a long time, but the result is a boss fight that stands out.
The admiration is earned.
Source material: “It took CD Projekt two years to design Phantom Liberty's Chimera Tank boss fight: 'We were iterating over and over',” PC Gamer.
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